Revelation, 1 November 1831–A [D&C 68]
-
Source Note
Revelation, , OH, 1 Nov. 1831. Featured version, titled “70 A Revelation to Orson Luke Lyman & William,” copied [ca. Nov. 1831] in Revelation Book 1, pp. 113–114; handwriting of and ; CHL. Includes redactions. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1.
-
Historical Introduction
On 1–2 November 1831, ten convened a in , Ohio, to discuss the publication of the Book of Commandments, a compilation of JS’s revelations. According to a later JS history, four of the conference attendees—, , , and —approached JS during the conference and requested to know the Lord’s will concerning them. This revelation came in response to their inquiry. The revelation provided more information about the evangelizing duties of the four men specifically and of elders in general. While Hyde, McLellin, and Luke Johnson were all to the at a conference held in , Cuyahoga County, Ohio, a week earlier, Lyman Johnson was ordained to the high priesthood at the Hiram conference on 2 November.After closing the portion of the revelation addressed specifically to the four men with an “Amen,” the document shifts its audience to the church in general and gives additional information about the office of , as well as counsel to members of the church “in ” about teaching and their children and avoiding idleness and greed. The text may originally have been dictated as two discrete revelations, which, like some other revelations closely related in time or content, were then copied together and presented as a single, unified text. All extant copies of the text—whether in manuscript or published form—present both parts as one revelation.The original manuscript of the revelation is not extant, and the conference minutes do not mention the revelation. However, the copy in Revelation Book 1 is dated 1 November 1831 and a heading states that it was “given in Nov. 1. 1831.” and copied the revelation into Revelation Book 1, probably soon after its dictation.
Footnotes
-
1
For more information on this conference, see Minutes, 1–2 Nov. 1831.
-
2
JS History, vol. A-1, 163. A few days earlier, JS had dictated a revelation to McLellin regarding God’s will for him, but McLellin and his copetitioners apparently desired more direction. (Revelation, 29 Oct. 1831 [D&C 66].)
-
3
JS History, vol. A-1, 163.
- 4
- 5
-
6
A 2 November date for the revelation cannot, however, be ruled out. A later JS history places the revelation as the final event of the two-day conference. (JS History, vol. A-1, 157–163.)
-
7
Cowdery and Whitmer left for Missouri on 20 November 1831 with Revelation Book 1, and the revelation was likely copied before they left. When this revelation was published in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, additional verses were included. (Whitmer, History, 38; Doctrine and Covenants 22, 1835 ed.)
-
1
